


spinning round in my head (burning red)

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 18:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1658834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his date with Joelle, Callen goes home and dreams of red hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	spinning round in my head (burning red)

**Author's Note:**

> Post ep to War Cries  
> For the "dreams" square of my Cotton Candy Bingo card

Callen's never claimed to be an expert in social relationships - any relationship, come to that, and especially where matters of the heart are concerned - but he thinks his date with Joelle is a success. Once the initial awkwardness is out of the way, the desire to kill Sam and Michelle begins to fade and as he talks to Joelle, he's surprised to find that he's enjoying himself. Joelle is smart and witty, beautiful and elegant - not that he'd expect a friend of Michelle's to be anything else - and he finds himself enjoying the night, the company. He enjoys it so much in fact that when he asks to see her again, it's him who's doing the asking, it's not just a part he's playing. 

They still agree to make Sam and Michelle suffer before they tell them about the second date though. 

That feeling lasts until about halfway through the drive home and it's definitely gone by the time he's taken his suit off, hung it ever so carefully in its Hetty-given garment bag and is wandering around his house in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He's no stranger to walking around his too-empty house unable to sleep, but this is not that; this is different. 

He can't shake the feeling that something is off. 

Not wrong, necessarily. 

Just off. 

He tells himself that he's just not used to this, the social interaction, the "human thing" as Sam or Nate would call it and as he lies down to try to sleep, he almost has himself convinced. 

But then he falls asleep and he dreams. 

He dreams of red hair. 

Not the flame red of Joelle's hair in the candlelight of the restaurant. The red in his dreams is darker, auburn really, the style shorter and not curly. 

Instead of Joelle's long limbs, the body he holds in his dreams is shorter, lighter, but not at all limp in his arms as it had been earlier that day. And instead of Joelle's classic beauty, perfectly accentuated by makeup, the face that dances through his dreams is more elfin, make up free, expression one of mingled curiosity and determination as she asks, "Did I get him?"

In his dreams, as in reality, he touches her cheek, smiles down at her and says, "Yeah, you got him."

In his dreams, different to reality, he touches her cheek, caresses it for distinctly non medical related needs before bringing his lips to hers. 

In his dreams, when he draws back, Nell's lips are curled in a smile. She looks surpremely satisfied, and not for case related reasons he thinks. Her hands slide up his shoulders and around his neck, pulling him back to her and he hears her voice say, "Yep... I got him."

He's just about to kiss her when he wakes up. 

His heart is pounding and her words, her face, are spinning in his head and he can't banish the imagined touch of her lips, her smile. 

What really surprises him is he doesn't want to try. 

"Yep," he says, to no-one in particular. "You got me."


End file.
